While storing and transporting crude oils is generally safe, several high-profile accidents have led to calls for greater safety standards. For example, the North Dakota Industrial Commission recently issued new conditioning standards requiring all crude oil produced in the Bakken region to be conditioned to remove lighter, volatile hydrocarbons in order to make oil safer during railroad transport. In particular, the new standard established operating standards for oil conditioning equipment with a goal of limiting the Reid vapor pressure to no greater than 13.7 pounds per square inch (psi).
Unfortunately, crude from the Bakken region can have a high gas-to-oil ratio which makes complying with existing conditioning equipment difficult. This problem is especially exacerbated during colder winter months. Traditional options to limit vapor pressure includes costly equipment such as stripper column or absorber/stripper columns. Other options such as routing the crude to a common stabilizer can add pipeline and right of way costs.